Poop Shute

AZ Prop 200

BOO!

It's some kind of anti-immigration thing, basically. It's aimed at taking away help from illegals here.

So... what's the theory here? They get f**ked over and stop coming? Seems unlikely to me. They'll just get f**ked over and keep getting f**ked over because it's still better here than in Mexico.

Here's the skinny:

The prop is aimed at getting all state agencies to start checking people's resident status. Examples: emission testing sites will be required to check every person's status, police pulling people over AND when they stop to help someone with car trouble or in an accident will be required to check, and all medical and dental services. And in the event you are found to be illegal, ALL these things will be withheld.

So, what does this mean to you? According to the Arizona Republic's numbers it's going to cost the state upwards of $260 million. This figures in things like the creating, printing, and shipping of all kinds of new forms to clog up red-tape channels, the hiring of more personel for many agencies, and a loss of revenues for many of these agencies. More than $260 million, and for what?*

On top of the monetary cost there are the general health and well-being costs. Examples: every emissions test will take an estimated 15 minutes longer for the ID checks. An estimated 478,000 drivers pulled over for simple moving violations and another 146,000 people needing "highway help" will see significant delays as their identities are verified. Then there is the fact that no immigrants will receive any healthcare of any kind, which means fewer immunizations which could help facilitate the spread of communicable diseases.*

These people come here for work, and in many cases do the jobs we wouldn't want anyway. They do landscaping, they wash dishes, they powerwash the Circle K parking lot, they work in the fields and orchards. In cases where they receive a regular, legal paycheck (like at a Circle K), instead of money under the table they are even paying taxes and social security that they will see little, if any, benefit of as it is.

This measure is horrible and will not help our country, or our state, but will hurt the lives of many people you and I depend on and cost us buckets of money. I would challenge anybody reading this to come up with a substantial counter-argument.

To the THE BOARD :-)

*Arizona Republic. Sunday, September 19, 2004. page A29